Front Desk AI
Automate personalized client outreach and multi-turn SMS conversations with AI — so you can fill classes, sell memberships, and re-engage lapsed clients without lifting a finger.
Front Desk AI sends personalized, one-on-one SMS messages to your clients on your behalf — and when they reply, Front Desk AI keeps the conversation going. It knows your schedule, your pricing, and each client's history, so every message feels personal.
Beta — Front Desk AI is currently in beta and isn't available on every account. In your dashboard it's called Front desk, under Arketa Agent. Each reply uses at least 5 Agent credits. If you're interested in trying it out, reach out to our team at support@arketa.com or through in-app chat.
What Front Desk AI does
- Sends personalized outreach — Reach out to clients about classes, appointments, memberships, or anything custom. Front Desk AI writes the message based on each client's profile, visit history, and your studio's schedule.
- Handles multi-turn conversations — When a client replies, Front Desk AI responds naturally over SMS. It can answer questions about their bookings, memberships, and your schedule.
- Hands off to your team — If Front Desk AI can't help or the client asks for a human, it sends a warm handoff message and notifies your staff in the inbox.
- Stops automatically — When a staff member replies to a conversation, Front Desk AI steps back. You're always in control.
What Front Desk AI doesn't do
- Take payments or process refunds
- Book classes or appointments on behalf of clients
- Cancel or modify existing bookings
- Access payment history or billing details
- Respond to email (SMS only for now)
How it works
1. Front Desk AI sends the first message
Front Desk AI is triggered through automations. When a client matches your automation trigger (e.g., hasn't visited in 30 days, just signed up, birthday coming up), Front Desk AI sends them a personalized SMS.
2. The client replies
When the client texts back, Front Desk AI picks up the conversation. It has context on:
- The client's upcoming bookings
- Their active memberships and passes
- Your studio's class schedule and services
- The original goal of the outreach (book a class, buy a membership, etc.)
Front Desk AI ends the conversation after 48 hours without a reply or 20 of its own messages, whichever comes first. You can change both in its settings.
3. Handoff to a human
Front Desk AI hands off to your team when:
- The client asks to speak with a real person
- The question is outside what Front Desk AI can answer
- A staff member replies to the conversation (Front Desk AI stops automatically)
- You click Stop AI in the inbox
When Front Desk AI hands off, the client sees: "Let me connect you with someone from the team who can help!" — and your staff sees an internal note explaining why Front Desk AI handed off.
Setting up Front Desk AI
- Go to Arketa Agent → Front desk
- Click Set up Front desk
- Review the defaults. Click Change these to add Topics it won't discuss and to set When a conversation ends: 12, 24, 48 or 72 hours without a reply (default 48), or 10, 20 or 30 of its messages (default 20)
- Click Turn on Front desk
Front desk writes in your Agent voice, which you set in Arketa Agent → Settings → Voice. To change its behavior later, click Edit on the How it behaves card.
Using Front Desk AI in automations
- Go to Marketing → Automations
- Create or edit an automation
- Add a Front desk conversation action step
- Choose a Goal: Book a Class, Book an Appointment, Purchase Membership, General Engagement, or Custom
- Select the Channel: SMS or Email
- Save and activate the automation
Front desk only answers in workflows that have this step and are turned on. Arketa Agent → Front desk lists them under Workflows it answers.
Start with a simple re-engagement automation: trigger on "client hasn't visited in 14 days" with a goal of "book a class." Front Desk AI will personalize the outreach based on what classes are coming up and what the client has taken before.
Identifying AI messages in the inbox
Messages sent by Front Desk AI show a purple "Written by AI" label beneath the message bubble. This makes it easy to tell which messages came from Front Desk AI vs. your team.
When Front Desk AI hands off a conversation, the handoff reason appears as an internal note in the thread — visible to staff but not to the client.
Stopping Front Desk AI mid-conversation
If you want Front Desk AI to stop responding in a conversation:
- Open the conversation in Inbox
- Click the Stop AI button in the conversation header (purple pill button with a robot icon)
Front Desk AI will stop replying immediately. You can then continue the conversation yourself.
Alternatively, just reply to the conversation — any message you send will automatically deactivate Front Desk AI for that conversation.